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Following on from the notification in Tailwagger of the purchase of Chris Sole’s Allards from Sam Sole, work has continued to resolve the multiple mixed up jigsaws so that suitable projects can be offered to the AOC community initially and then more widely should there be no takers from within the club.
Of the 2 M type cars, the one shown below is the more complete. Jon Langley has constructed a dolly (that can be adapted for any Allard and possibly other chassis type vehicles) with a box above, so that we can keep everything selected for the car in one place.
As can be seen this M currently has a 21 stud engine (which was actually with the K, but we’ve stored it here out of the way – no reason it couldn’t go with the M though), with a three speed side change gearbox. The body wooden frame was reconstructed by Chris Sole and his team. We have used gaffer tape to secure the alloy bodywork over the top to keep it from being damaged in transit.The blue boxes contain: electrics including a new loom; steering wheel; column change; hubs; brakes; chrome work; everything else we can find to complete the car. Of course no guarantees it’ll all be there, but I’d like to thank Mike and Diana, Josh and James for helping to resolve the puzzles contained with the piles of rusty bits in the assortment of boxes.
The second M was “improved” in period with the addition of an Alvis 4 speed gearbox.
This can be seen in the picture above. The original 3 speed, top-change has a shaft through the centre and then there is a Hillman Imp (Lotus Elan?) looking rotoflex coupling in front of the Alvis box. Assume this was done to avoid desecrating the cruciform, but the result is a much shortened torque tube and some distinctly truncated radius arms. Whilst this is a period modification, the execution leaves much to question and we are looking at returning this chassis to the more traditional format.
Happy to hear your thoughts, but I think safety and the continuance of another road going Allard must be the priority. Maybe someone would consider creating a hill climb car with this combination, but there is little opportunity to reduce the wheelbase from 112″ to 106″ as the torque tube would end up being under 18″ long!
The final car in this update is the K Type body on the shortened P Type chassis. It is shown below next to my K Type chassis and we have spent some hours measuring and comparing to understand how it was envisaged to become reality. There are some conundrums requiring further investigation and I will seek insight from others who may have encountered such challenges before.
More details will be published in the next Tailwagger, but should any members wish to indicate their interest for any of these cars, please contact Geoff Pinch through the website or from my details in the Year Book. Some members have already made contact and I will provide them with more detail of what is included and the prices via email before the end of August.
Whilst there will be a number of items that would be categorised as ‘spares’, now that we have allocated items to each car, there is not a huge pool of prized items such as Phase 2 brakes etc. There will be a number of M type doors, bonnets and boot lids, but I’m not sure how much demand there will be for such items. Maybe we’ll look at creating some wall art for your workshops?
The hope is that we will be able to cover the outlay to buy the collection, the costs for the creation of the dollies and then a small contribution to cover the costs to resolve the puzzles in to viable projects.
The M Type has been on sale for a good few months and we’ve had more interest in it as a spares provider rather than a complete car. One or two contacts from abroad but unfortunately nothing has progressed so far.
The picture below shows the K chassis in its shot blasted state ready for powder coating which should be completed later this week .
Jon Langley’s future son-in-law (Stuart) is an MOD certificated welder, who TIG welds chassis part time for a company near Radstock called Caged Laser Engineering Ltd( https://www.cagedlaser.co.uk/ )
They have a chassis sized shot blasting container and we locked Jon in it on Sunday morning until he finished stripping the chassis.
Caged are responsible for Caterham, Westfield and many other car company roll cages and chassis. They also produce chassis for this company:
You too could own a Revival 250 and here is an article explaining just how reasonably priced they are: https://www.carscoops.com/2021/11/gto-engineerings-1m-250-swb-is-the-ferrari-classic-you-can-crash-and-not-care/
An F40 Revival might also happen in the future, so maybe keep your piggy bank close for now? Caged do all sorts of fabrication, but their mainstay appears to be cages and half cages for all manner of track day and racing moderns. I did see jigs for Minis and Mark 2 Escorts which I guess the rally brigade buy through 3rd parties never knowing who actually makes them. Caged can do all sorts of fabrication, so if you need something they might be able to help.We hope to have the K1 on a rolling chassis in the coming month or so and will then advertise it on here and elsewhere for someone to take it to completion.
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